The Foschini Group is a South African retail Group, which, under its UK arm TFG London, has been expanding its UK retail portfolio buying up Hobbs, Whistles, Phase Eight, Damsel in a Dress and Studio 8 in recent years.
Recently the retail group revealed it was seeking to secure more than 100,000 sq ft of retail space across its UK fashion brand portfolio during the next 12 months. The company has appointed property firm Brasier Freeth as its portfolio adviser across its fashion brands.
TFG London said it was planning to work closely with landlords and agents to capitalise on the current market. Peter Riordan, group property director at TFG London, said: “We are looking forward to working closely with Brazier Freeth to access the huge trading opportunity that this brings to our group.” TFG first entered the UK market through the acquisition of the premium womenswear brand Phase Eight in January 2015.
In May 2019 the Foschini group reported a 19.6% rise in retail sales to $2.36bn (£1.86bn) for the year ended 31 March. TFG owns 28 retail brands across three business segments: TFG London, TFG Africa and TFG Australia. Reuters reported that all 3 segments delivered “strong turnover growth” during the year despite tough trading conditions.
Across the group, online turnover jumped by 57.2% and now accounts for 8.8% of the total. TFG is investing $35m (£27.6m) in technology in line with the rise of online shopping.